About Diesel

We couldn't find anything that helped us work out our fuel capacity and rate of use, so here are our conclusions, based on John's calculations and my length of stick.
My dip stick is marked at 5cm intervals and by measuring before and after journeys plus some clever estimating, John calculates that 1 of these units equals 17.5 litres. He estimates the tank capacity at 200 litres.

A combination of dip stick before and after plus filling the tank from the diesel pump reveals that Patience uses an average of 0.5 litres per mile or 9.3 mpg. This will vary according to speed, winds and current but should hold good for an average journey at 4mph.
Do you agree?

Fuel Consumption

The 18 mile trip from Hemingford Grey back to the Lazy Otter enabled us to estimate our diesel consumption, based on the horizontal cross sectional area of the transom fuel tank (0.35 sq metres) and the drop in height measured by a dipstick. This gave a very approximate figure of about 0.5 litres per mile or 9.3 mpg. The capacity of the tank is estimated to be a little over 200 litres, so Patience has a cruising range of about 400 miles. Does anyone else have fuel consumption figures for narrow boats? [postscript: later figures suggest 8 miles per gallon is nearer the mark for Patience]

The photos show Patience waiting to pass through St. Ives lock and after passing through Hermitage lock. The water on the Old West River was a lot calmer than the exposed tidal section we experienced upstream of Hermitage!

Photos by John